The stakes in the decision on whether and when to confirm President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court are nothing less than the presidency of the United States. While the debate over the president’s eventual designee is likely to revolve around the usual staple of hot button issues like abortion, birth control, gay marriage and the like, the real, unspoken issue is how the potential justice would vote on a case involving in the 2020 election.
It would do immense and perhaps irreparable damage to America were the Ginsburg seat to remain vacant until after the election.
It is unfathomable to contemplate how a 4-4 divided Supreme Court could resolve a serious dispute over the election. If Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are pitted against Roberts, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor, how could the election be resolved?
Chief Justice John Roberts, while nominally a Republican, has shown himself to be more in step with the court’s liberals of late. He is far too slender a reed to depend on.
If Biden defeats Trump or the president beats the challenger in a fair fight, the matter need never reach the Supreme Court.
But if Biden were to be able to claim victory only on the strength of dubious mailed-in ballots, a contested election would doubtless require a Supreme Court decision.
If Trump does prevail, it will be likely that any margin of victory would be overwhelmed, in key swing states, by a torrent of mailed-in votes.
These ballots would be subject to state rules that in many cases do not require — and in some prohibit — signature and identity verification. Were the Biden votes that might make the difference cast by people whose identity and eligibility to vote has been established, they should be counted and, if cast in sufficient numbers, prevail. But that’s not how it will come down.
Widespread Democratic ballot harvesting coupled with the mass mailing of unrequested blank ballots is likely to yield a fraudulent crop of illegal votes. With any photo ID requirement bypassed by the postal system, the process of sifting through them is a recipe for guerrilla partisan warfare.
Five of the key swing states — Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota — have Democratic governors in control of the counting process.
Even though each of these states has a Republican-majority legislature (except for Minnesota, where power is divided), there is no governor to call them into special session to act.
So in these blue states, the power of counting votes will devolve to Democratic election officials.
Their jaundiced view of the validity of the mailed-in ballots will color their vote counts, changing them from red to blue.
The only appeal from the decision of election officials will be to state courts. The top courts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida are controlled by Republicans.
But the Pennsylvania and North Carolina courts are controlled by Democrats.
To really understand how much Democrats are betting on the state courts to steal the election, consider North Carolina.
Democrat Anita Earls only won there because former Democrat Chris Anglin switched parties at the last minute to run as a Republican to drain votes from incumbent Republican Barbara Jackson, delivering a 4-3 majority to the Dems.
So in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, at least, Republicans must look to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the integrity of the election.
If Majority Leader Mitch McConnell postpones the confirmation vote on Trump’s nominee until a lame-duck session after the election, the new member of the court may not arrive in time to stop the theft of the election.
So a lot is riding on McConnell and the Republicans. The future of not just the court, but the presidency as well.